Knowledge Base
Tutorials, guides, and videos to using Chicago Cityscape
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Have a question you can't find the answer to? Request a guide
Finding property sales nearby and anywhere in Cook County
Every quarter, Chicago Cityscape adds tens of thousands of property sale records for all property types in Cook County. It's easy to count and summarize the number of property transactions in any given municipality, Chicago community area, personally-drawn place, or near a specific address.
Property research, Address Snapshot, Place Snapshot
Last updated 05/09/2022
Finding properties available through the Cook County Land Bank Authority
This Knowledge Base article gives a brief overview of the Cook County Land Bank Authority, describes their involvement in the disposition of certain properties, and demonstrates how to use Chicago Cityscape to find properties that can be acquired.
Property Finder, Property research, Taxes
Last updated 03/12/2022
History of ADU zoning changes since 2021
Chicago Cityscape is attempting to track zoning changes for ADUs, especially backyard houses. (This article requires a Cityscape Real Estate Pro membership.)
Property research, Zoning
Last updated 03/09/2022
Research the history of a property
Being connected to so many data sources, Chicago Cityscape is a good place to learn the history of a Chicago property. The data is best if you're looking to learn about changes since the early 2000s, but we have pointers to older data as well.
Property research, Zoning, Environmental Snapshot, Historic districts & buildings
Last updated 03/08/2022
Sharing select Snapshot reports with others
Chicago Cityscape created ShareLinks based on feedback from Data Equity Cohort (2021-2022) members who wanted the option to share our exclusive content with their colleagues and constituents who are not members.
Property research
Last updated 03/07/2022
How to find potential financial & development incentives for a property or place
Chicago Cityscape has assembled the single largest database of financial & development incentives in Illinois. At the time of publication we have 32 incentives that are based on geography (the location of a business or property). Incentives Checker is our exclusive tool to determine if an Address or a Place is potentially eligible for these incentives.
Property research, Address Snapshot, Place Snapshot
Last updated 03/02/2022
Find homeownership assistance programs
Chicago Cityscape's determines automatically if any Address Snapshot is potentially eligible for any of 32 (at time of publication) financial and development incentives due to geography. Incentives Checker does not include information about programs for helping people buy a house. This article points to resources to find assistance to become a homeowner.
Property research, Resource
Last updated 02/20/2022
Find potentially vacant properties
Chicago Cityscape integrates various datasets that help members assess the likelihood that a property is vacant. Members may want to know if a property is vacant so they can target it to reduce blight in an area, redevelop it, or point new businesses to its location for potential occupation.
Property research, Property Finder, Vacant properties
Last updated 01/18/2022
Chicago Cityscape's Address Snapshot is a key tool for valuing any property in Cook County prior to purchase. Specifically, you can find comps and nearby property sales, understand the value-add opportunity, identify financial & development incentives, locate nearby development, and see where amenities & community assets are.
Property research, Address Snapshot, Due diligence
Last updated 12/13/2021
Use Property Finder to send notice letters
Many zoning and building code regulations require that property owners provide notice to nearby property owners. In the case of a zoning change, the applicant must send a letter to all property owners within 250 feet.
Zoning, Property research, Property Finder
Last updated 11/23/2021
Find properties that are in Cook County's annual tax sale
The Cook County Treasurer is in charge of collecting properties taxes from all owners of taxable properties. When owners don't pay their property taxes, the taxes are "sold" in the annual tax sale, nine months after the second installment is due. (This is separate from the scavenger sale, which is for properties that have three or more years of unpaid taxes.) Chicago Cityscape incorporates the treasurer's list of properties and makes it easy to find these properties.
Resource, Property research, Property Finder, Taxes
Last updated 11/16/2021
How to export Cityscape data to a spreadsheet
Cityscape members benefit from being able to download nearly all of our data with the click of a button. Every map and table can be exported to a format usable in spreadsheets and a format usable in map making and GIS software (that would be CSV, or comma-separated values). This tutorial will guide users to get data from Chicago Cityscape into a spreadsheet program.
Resource, Property research, Exporting data
Last updated 11/03/2021
Look up flood zones in Illinois
Chicago Cityscape has three flooding-related datasets: Flood hazard areas defined by FEMA, the MWRD indundation area administered by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and the flood susceptibility index calculated by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for the Chicago region.
Property research, Address Snapshot, Due diligence
Last updated 05/05/2021
How to build an ADU outside a Chicago pilot area
Even if your property is not within a pilot area, it may still be possible to build an ADU through the normal zoning channel. This article will also discuss "unused zoning capacity", which is the combination of zoning regulations that allows additional dwelling units to be built on a property.
Property research, Zoning, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU)
Last updated 05/05/2021
Find building permits at a specific Chicago address video
Look up historical building permits, back to 2006, at a particular address in Chicago.
Property research, Address Snapshot
Last updated 05/05/2021
Draw a Personal Place video
When one of our thousands of Places doesn't show you the right area of analysis, draw your own. This 1-minute video shows you how easy it is to draw a Personal Place and get information and data there. Draw your Personal Place.
Property research
Last updated 05/05/2021
Compare Chicago Cityscape and CoStar
Many of our members use both Chicago Cityscape and CoStar to get the full depth of information they need to be successful. This guide compares and contrasts Chicago Cityscape and CoStar.
Property research
Last updated 05/05/2021
Learn about Cook County property classes
All Cook County properties are assigned one of these property classes by the Cook County Assessor's Office. This is a list of them.
Property research
Last updated 05/05/2021
Transit-served location and TOD explained
Chicago's zoning code has provisions to reduce parking requirements and increase density allowance in certain areas based on proximity to transit.
Due diligence, Property research, Zoning, Address Snapshot, Transit
Last updated 05/05/2021
Address Snapshot overview video
Address Snapshot is the primary feature on Chicago Cityscape, which brings together all of the maps and data about a single address in Illinois. Look up an address now.
Property research, Due diligence, Address Snapshot
Last updated 05/05/2021